Fitness game
Fitness game, exergame, and gamercise are terms used for video games that are also a form of exercise. Fitness games rely on technology that tracks body movement or reaction. The genre has been used to challenge the stereotype of gaming as a sedentary activity, and promoting an active lifestyle among gamers. Fitness games are seen as evolving from technology aimed at making exercise more fun.
History
The genre's roots can be found in game peripherals released in the eighties, including the Joyboard, an Atari 2600 peripheral developed by Amiga and released in 1982, the Power Pad a peripheral for the Nintendo Entertainment System, originally released by Bandai in 1986, and the Foot Craz released for the Atari 2600 in 1987, although all three had limited success. Konami's Dance Dance Revolution was cited as one of the first major fitness games; when it was ported from the arcade to PlayStation, it sold over three million copies. In the 2000s, a number of devices and games have used the exergame style to much success: the EyeToy camera has sold over ten million units, while Nintendo's Wii Fit has sold in excess of 21 million copies. By June 2009, health games were generating revenues of $2 billion, largely due to Wii Fit's 18.22 million sales at the time. The term exergaming entered the Collins English Dictionary in 2007.The genre has been promoted as a way to improve users' health through exercise, but few studies have been undertaken to measure the health benefits. Smaller trials have yielded mixed results and have shown that the respective traditional methods of exercise are superior to their video game equivalents. Design considerations for fitness games include the need to balance the physical effectiveness of the exercise with the attractiveness of the gameplay, with both factors needed to be adapted to the abilities of the player, referred to as 'dual flow'.
1980s
Fitness games contain elements that were developed in the virtual reality community during the 1980s. The pioneer in this area was Autodesk, which developed two systems, the HighCycle and Virtual Racquetball. The HighCycle was an exercise bike that a user would pedal through a virtual landscape. If the user pedaled fast enough, the virtual bike would take off and fly over the landscape. Virtual Racquetball tracked the position and orientation of an actual racquet that was used to hit a virtual ball in a virtual environment. This environment was shared with another user equipped with another tracked racquet, allowing the two users to play each other over phone lines. In both systems, the users could wear the VPL eyephones, an early head-mounted display, that would provide more immersion for the user.The first true attempt at what would later be called Exertainment was the Atari Puffer project. This was an exercise bike that would hook up to an Atari 400/800 or 5200 system. Forward speed was controlled by pedaling while steering and additional gameplay was handled by a handlebar-mounted Gamepad. The machine was nearly ready for production with several games when Atari declared bankruptcy and the Puffer project was abandoned. The Joyboard for the Atari 2600 was also released in 1982, by the Amiga Corporation.
In Japan, Bandai dabbled in this space with the Family Trainer pad, released in 1986 for the Famicom. In 1988, Nintendo acquired the North American rights to the pad, and marketed it as the Power Pad in North America.
The first fitness game system released to the market was the 1986 CompuTrainer by RacerMate Inc. Designed as a training aid and motivational tool, the CompuTrainer system allowed users to interactively ride on their own bicycle through a virtual landscape generated on an NES or Commodore 64 by connecting their bike trainer unit directly to an external port on the game cartridge. Two trainer units could be connected at a time for 2 players to race virtually on screen while also displaying data such as speed, power, pedaling cadence, heart rate, and distance. As riders raced virtually, the cartridge sent a signal back to the CompuTrainer unit to dynamically change the bicycle's actual resistance based on what was happening on screen in real time with incline, wind, and drafting. The product had a price that was far too high to be considered as an entertainment product, but was affordable by dedicated athletes. RacerMate released the "Racermate Challenge I" cartridge on the Commodore 64 and the "Racermate Challenge II" cartridge on the NES. RacerMate made the CompuTrainer until 2017, where its latest version runs using Microsoft Windows compatible software with extensive graphic and physiological capabilities.
About the same time as the Computrainer, Concept II introduced a computer attachment for their rowing machine. This has become their eRow product and is used for both individual motivation as well as competition in "indoor rowing leagues".
1990s
During the 1990s, there was a surge of interest in the application of virtual reality to high-end gym equipment. Life Fitness and Nintendo partnered to produce the Exertainment System; Precor had an LCD-based bike product, and Universal had several CRT-based systems. The Netpulse system provided users with the ability to browse the web while exercising. Fitlinxx introduced a system that used sensors attached to weight machines in order to provide automated feedback to users.Three issues combined to ensure the failure of these systems in the marketplace. First, they were significantly more expensive than the equivalent models that did not have all the additional electronics. Second, they were harder to maintain, and were often left broken. Lastly the additional expertise required to operate the software was often intimidating to the users, who shied away from the machines out of fear that they would look foolish while trying to master the machine.
Until 1998, nothing significant happened in the field of videogame exercise. Hardware was still too expensive for the average home consumer, and the health clubs were gun-shy about adopting any new technology. As high-performance game console capabilities improved and prices fell, manufacturers once more started to explore the fitness market.
In 1998, Konami's Dance Dance Revolution was released. Pump It Up, a dance game similar to Konami's, was released in 1999 by the company Andamiro.
2000s
In 2000, UK startup Exertris introduced an interactive gaming bike to the commercial fitness market.Fitness games came to the mass media attention at the Consumer Electronics Show when Bill Gates showcased the Exertris Interactive Gaming Bike in 2003, and the following year the same show hosted a pavilion dedicated to video game technology that also worked as sports and exercise equipment.
Image:Gamercize GZ Sport.jpg|thumb|Gamercize played on PlayStation 2
The 2005 release of the EyeToy: Kinetic brought the first multi-function fitness game hardware into the home market. Making the players physical movements into the game's controller. 2006 saw the launch of Gamercize, combining traditional fitness equipment with game consoles. The minimalist approach allows game play to continue only when exercising, turning all game titles into potential fitness games.
Nintendo's Wii in 2006 brought acceleration detection with the Wii Remote. In late 2007, Nintendo released Wii Fit, which utilized a new peripheral, the Wii Balance Board. The popularity of the Wii led to it being used in hospital "Wiihab" rehabilitation programs.
The PCGamerBike appeared at CES in 2007 where it received an Honoree Award. It differs from other fitness game devices in that its pedal motion can be mapped to any key on the keyboard. It also has an optical encoder which detects forward and reverse pedal motion. The Fisher-Price Smart Cycle was another entry in the field.
Other examples of fitness game products include: Positive Gaming iDANCE, iSTEP, Cobalt Flux Blufit, Cyber coach, NeoRacer, Gymkids exercise equipment with interactive technology, some Wii titles such as EA Sports Active, Cybex TRAZER, Powergrid Fitness Kilowatt, Lightspace Play Floor, PlayMotion, Yourself!Fitness, Expresso Fitness S2, i.play, Cyber ExerCycle, VEQTOR Sport Trainer and Sportwall.
2010s
Microsoft's Kinect was the first major consumer-focused body motion tracking hardware. Games such as Just Dance and Nike+ Kinect Training used Kinect to make physical body motion into a method of control for games. The trend within consoles that started with the Wii peaked with the pedometer-pairing Wii Fit U. These were followed up in the eighth generation by a fitness game push by Microsoft with the Xbox One launch day Xbox Fitness service, which tracked metrics such as heart rate and correct form while synchronising these metrics with the Microsoft Health. By 2017, Microsoft had pivoted away from Kinect and fitness games on consoles. In 2019, Nintendo released Fitness Boxing, and Ring Fit Adventure for the Nintendo Switch, which take advantage of the Joy-Con controllers, acting as motion detectors in multiple areas of the body.Mobile phone apps such as Zombies, Run!, Run An Empire, Ingress, and Pokémon Go have been described as augmented reality exergames.
Virtual reality is emerging as a new interface method for fitness games. Games like Beat Saber, Holodance, OhShape, and others allow players to get good exercise while playing a video game.
2020s
Fitness games gained in popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic. Ring Fit Adventure sold-out at most retailers worldwide and saw a price increase from $80 to $300 on reselling websites. Nintendo also released Jump Rope Challenge for free and for a limited time in an effort to keep Nintendo Switch owners active while in quarantine. However, Nintendo later announced that the game would remain on the Nintendo eShop until further notice. As of September 30, 2020, players of the game had recorded 2.5 billion jumps in total.The COVID-19 pandemic also caused delays in the industry. One reason Ring Fit Adventure did not have enough supply to meet demand was that China was hit early by the pandemic, leading to manufacturing shortages. The pandemic also delayed several VR products, such as the Valve Index, and titles such as Marvel's Iron Man VR and Little Witch Academia: VR Broom Racing.
Fitness games also proved to be especially helpful during the COVID-19 pandemic, as they were a great motivator for physical activity, which fought the sedentary lifestyle lockdowns caused. Physical fitness is known to aid in disease prognosis, as it boosts the immune system, shortened the recovery period from COVID-19, and reduced the negative effects of stress from living in isolation.
Overwhelmed medical centers also turned to therapeutic fitness games during the COVID-19 pandemic, as they proved to be more socially distant, required less direct supervision, and used less personal protective equipment. These games can be adjusted for each patients' exercise needs, making them suitable for the COVID-19 patients whose mobility became limited, or elderly patients, who were affected by COVID-19 at an increased rate.